This is a really common problem – all of us at some stage have struggled with someone in our teams who resists change and yet is crucial to the current operation. We need them to change but we also need them to stay and be part of the change.

Fortunately there are a few simple strategies you can take to overcome this kind of problem and which will quickly lead to clear result – either they’ll change or it will become clear they never will, in which case you can move on.

Perhaps it will reassure you to know that this is extremely common – so at least you are in good company. The plague of meetingitis has infected large parts of the world. Fortunately the solution is simple.

I often wonder just how much latent productivity is locked up in the world’s obsession with meetings. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if an economic boom followed a decision to ban excessive meetings, making them a criminal offence!

Happily though, you don’t need to wait for that to be able to take action.

I wonder what motivated the choice of Scrum and were you aware of its constraints (link to blog post)? Is it the right solution for you? How would you know?

Scrum is high-discipline and takes a lot of committed energy to get going. Are you expecting the Scrum-master to provide that? It needs to come from the whole team with a shared understanding of why it matters.

I suggest you start by taking on the mindset that you are there with the ePMO to support, coordinate and enable rather than control and dictate. This is essential for success.

Even if you secretly want to control everything, behaving like that will be counterproductive and won’t get you want you want – it will just build resistance in other people. You need to make the ePMO something that directly benefits them.

Of course, there’s an even better reason than that, which is that control isn’t what it is popularly thought to be. True control is nothing to do with reports, standards and processes – they are all weak proxies for true control.

First I suggest you take the time to understand and explore what’s behind his micro-managing: what is it that he is concerned about that will or won’t happen if he doesn’t? If you don’t understand this then nothing you do will have any effect.

Try a mixture of guesswork, experimentation, asking others if they know and asking him direct questions to reveal his thoughts. It might not be easy if you don’t have the best working relationship but it is so important if you want things to change.